1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotating connector that is incorporated into vehicular steering equipment to electrically connect the vehicle body with an air bag system etc., and, particularly, a rotating connector in which a flat cable is wound inversely through an inverting section in an annular space defined between a rotor and a stator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A rotating connector contains a pair of rotatably connected housings, one of which is used as a rotor and the other is used as a stator, and in which a flat cable is contained and wound in a space between the rotor and the stator. A rotating connector is used to electrically connect the vehicle body with an air bag system, etc., mounted on a wheel handle that has a number of limited rotations such as vehicular steering equipment. The above-mentioned flat cable is a belt-shaped transmission line carrying a plurality of conductors. Two types of rotating connectors are well known, a swirl-type connector in which a flat cable is wound in a swirl-like shape and a reverse-type connector in which the winding direction of a flat cable is reversed in the intermediate section thereof, and a flat cable can be shortened in the reverse-type connector.
Conventionally, in the reverse-type rotating connector, a flat cable is contained in an annular space defined between the rotor and the stator, the winding direction of which is reversed at the intermediate section thereof, and a holder journaling a plurality of rollers is rotatably arranged in the annular space, and the intermediate reversing section of the flat cable is looped to one of the rollers (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-126836 (claims 2 to 3, FIG. 4) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,527). In the rotating connector of such a configuration, when the rotor is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, the flat cable is unreeled from the outer tube of the stator and wound on the inner tube of the rotor, or, on the contrary, the flat cable is unreeled from the inner tube and wound back on the outer tube. In this case, the intermediate reversing section of the flat cable rotates in the same direction with the rotor, but by a less rotating angle, which is followed by the holder. And, also the flat cable is unreeled twice as long as the rotating angle from the outer tube or the inner tube. In addition, the winding of the flat cable in the diametric direction is regulated by a plurality of rollers journaled on the holder, thus the flat cable can be unreeled smoothly in the direction of the reversing section.